Monthly Archives: March 2009

The 2009 Sustainable Tourism Report is predicting a dramatic rise in development tourism, particularly in Africa, as a drive by tourism donors to use tourism to achieve the Millennium Development Goals gains momentum.

The report says “Numbers of disadvantaged countries can, at least be assisted with development tourism, which, properly instituted, can help to generate quick and sustainable economic benefits. The natural partners for these activities are the various new forms of voluntourism and the movement for travel philanthropy. There is no reason why this activity could not address, even in part, the food, water and population challenges that less developed countries face.”

Voluntourism and Travel Philanthropy currently appear to be niche growth areas within the travel industry and under developed countries could certainly benefit from an influx of tourists who would not demand high quality accommodation and sophisticated services, but who would also provide assistance and bring much-needed foreign currency.

Donor-funded tourism development appears to be able to assist in the achievement of the following MDG’s:

According to the Overseas Development Institute and the World Bank, tourism brings

• Direct effects – such as employment earnings (tourism is a labour-intensive activity and uses a high level of unskilled and semi-skilled labour). Tourism can be a big employer in urban, and coastal areas and, possibly the only one in rural areas.

• Indirect Effects – occur through the tourism value chain, including inputs through food and beverage, construction, transportation, furniture and many other sectors. This inter-sectoral impact adds an extra 60-70% on top of the direct effects.

• Dynamic Effects – tourism development can affect the livelihood strategies of local households, the business climate for small enterprise development, patterns of growth of the local or national economy, and the infrastructure or natural resource base of the destination. Tourism also tends to employ a relatively high proportion of women and to purchase products, such as food and crafts, produced by women in the informal sector – and, as a result, may be able to enhance women’s economic positions and help overcome gender barriers.

This is a great booklet that was just released by the Centre for Responsible Tourism, with so many volunteers coming back from their trips wanting to give back it seems only right for voluntourism operators to offer this or something similar.

What does your organization do to encourage responsible giving?

Dos and Don’ts of Travel Giving

Travelers’ desire to help, interact, and learn from those they meet during their holiday is clearly positive. However, there are sometimes unintended consequences from these good intentions.

Misguided contributions can perpetuate cycles of dependency, cause corruption, burden communities with unwanted or inappropriate donations, and require recipients to spend time and resources to handle ‘gifts’ they didn’t request or cannot use. As part of our Travelers’ Philanthropy program, the Center for Responsible Travel asked a dozen experienced tour operators and tourism organizations who are engaged in supporting local community projects how they respond to some of the most frequently asked questions and suggestions from travelers about ‘giving’ while on holiday.

Though they sometimes expressed differing views, overall they agree that when, how, and what to contribute needs to be decided by the host community, not the tourist or the tourism company.

A gap-year travel firm has gone into administration, leaving more than 150 cash-strapped teenagers stranded overseas, it was reported. Administrators were called into Global Xperience last week after the company – which places travellers on volunteer and adventure projects spanning six continents – fell victim to the recession.

A total of 163 young people on placements across the globe were given the news by letter and email, The Independent revealed.

Trade association body Year Out Group, said in a statement: ‘On March 13, 2009 Stephen Katz and David Birne of Fisher Partners were appointed joint administrators of The Ethical Travel Group Limited, which traded as Global Xperience. ‘

As a result of the administration Global Xperience is unable to fulfil its obligations in regard to future bookings with the company.’

Im in Costa Rica taking media to meet the communities behind voluntourism – so this blog will be quite lame this week. I thought you might be interested in looking at the variety of papers presented last week at the GWTTRA Voluntourism Effect Symposium. If you{d like to see any of the below just let me know and Ill email you the presentations.

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“Understanding Voluntourism: A Glaserian Grounded Theory Study” by Zoë Alexander and Ali Bakir, Faculty of Sport, Leisure and Tourism, Buckinghamshire New University

“The Mystery of The Voluntourist” by Nancy Gard McGehee, Hospitality and Tourism Management, Virginia Tech; David Clemmons, Voluntourism.org; and John Lee, Hospitality and Tourism Management, Virginia Tech
“Research Volunteer Tourism: Defining the Experience” by Angela M Benson, School of Service Management, University of Brighton

“The Sport Voluntourism Experience: Case Studies of Volunteers at the Olympics” by George Karlis, School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa

“Carrying the Gift of Water, a Voluntourism Event” by Claudia Jurowski, School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, The W.A. Franke College of Business, Northern Arizona University

“Journeys of the Self: Volunteer Tourists in Nepal” by Eugenia Wickens, Faculty of Sport, Leisure and Tourism, Buckinghamshire New University

“Through the Eyes of Marx: The Labor in Volunteer Tourism of New Orleans” by Jennifer L. Erdely, Communication Studies Department, Louisiana State University

“Destination Marketing from a Sustainability Perspective” by Maria Aguilar, Deepak Chhabra, Kathleen Andereck, School of Community Resources &Development, Arizona State University, John Schlacter, WP Carey School of Business, Arizona State University
“Marketing in a Tough Economy” by Alexia Nestora, http://www.voluntourismgal.com, Christina Heyniger, Xola Consulting, Inc.

Lasso, in conjunction with XOLA Consulting, is doing a survey of the voluntourism industry thru mid April. We’re hoping that since both Lasso and XOLA are not operators and are unbiased that we will be able to truly get some meaty results.

Here is where I beg for your participation.

How many times has a reporter asked you what the size of the voluntourism market in the US is? How many times do we have to hem and haw or use a number that we’re not sure where it came from? We’ve decided to put an end to the guessing game, let’s get some real meaty numbers.

Please participate so we can get an accurate pulse of the industry, this will help all of us.

All participants’ information will be kept strictly confidential and only the results, and a total list of companies that participated, will be produced – for free, for all to see.

Two ways to participate: wait until Christina Heyniger and I call your organization, or just send me an email with your answers (much appreciated).

Criteria to qualify as an operator in this survey:
– Have a US office
– Send US volunteers abroad
– Not faith based in anyway
– Volunteers have to pay to volunteer
– Travelers work for more than 4 days of straight volunteering (the idea with this is to eliminate the adventure companies that offer voluntourism as an activity)

Questions for operators that meet the criteria:

– To which countries do you currently send volunteers?

– What is the most popular activity for your volunteers? Building; Community Development; Conservation – Environmental, Wildlife, or Heritage; Scientific; Health Care; Skills Based Professional; Teaching; Other (please describe)

– How many US volunteers did you send abroad in 2008?

– Do you expect to send more or less volunteers abroad in 2009 than you did in 2008?

– What is your return rate for volunteers?

– Will you participate again next year if this becomes an annual survey?

Optional, if you have time:

– Do you feel the economy is affecting your business positively, negatively
or unaffected? What, if anything, have you done to counteract the effects of
the recession?

– Are there any valuable insights or lessons learned you would like to share
with the industry?
-Which term do you most associate with your organization? Voluntourism, volunteer tourism, volunteer vacation, volunteer travel, volunteer abroad?

I normally don’t put press releases up on the blog, but I thought this one was especially fitting when I received it. For all the voluntourism we advocate abroad, there are still real issues at home and Hotel Galvez has taken a shot at offering volunteer opportunities to help communities recover from the too often forgotten about Hurricane Ike.

GALVESTON ISLAND, Texas (March 6, 2009) – Hotel Galvez, A Wyndham® Historic Hotel and National Trust Historic Hotel of America, is offering a Giving Back to Galveston Voluntourism package geared at travelers willing to roll up their sleeves to help the city recover from the effects associated with last year’s Hurricane Ike.According to city officials, Galveston has sustained an estimated $3.6 billion in damages and losses from Ike.

Confirmed guests are introduced to Help4Galveston, an organization dedicated to helping the city recover from Hurricane Ike. The package is based on double occupancy and is subject to availability and blackout dates.

The Tremont House, A Wyndham Historic Hotel which is anticipated to reopen in late May, will offer its Giving Back to Galveston Voluntourism Package beginning in June.

“There are many people are interested in helping Galveston recover,” said Patty Rouse, Hotel Galvez area director of sales and marketing. “We encourage these individuals and couples to visit and give a helping hand to the island and its residents.”

I tend to blab on about the importance of social media campaigns when I speak at conferences, and most of you look at me like I have two heads – so here is a little social media 101 from the folks at SEO Optimise as well as a Common Craft Video that’s really helpful.

Online marketing is a strange world to the outsider, filled with jargon, buzzwords and rapidly developing language. One phrase in particular which seems to confuse many of my clients is social media marketing. I often get asked: “Do you mean, erm, Facebook? when I go on about the benefits.

So – just what the hell is it?

Social media marketing

It is the use of social media websites, namely those which publish user-generated content and build online communities, to generate positive publicity and manage web-based corporate personas.

It is about conversing with consumers rather than pitching at them.

Where?

Well, where are customers conversing online? You may decide to go to them via existing online communities, or you may decide to entice them to you using specially-created forums, blogs and other content designed to drive debate and encourage comment and participation.

The web is filled with these communities. From big names like Beebo, Facebook, Twitter, Del.icio.us and Digg to more niche spaces, such as NetMums, Econsultancy, even Cat Chat – whatever is best suited to whatever it is you sell.

How?

There are numerous options and before starting any social media marketing campaign, you’ll need to decide what fits with your corporate identity. You probably would not, for example, use Beebo if you make cleaning technology for hospitals – it is not appropriate for your business.

You also need to decide whether or not you intend to go to your customers via existing communities, encourage them to align themselves with your brand through setting up groups within these communities, or create your own content and spaces to entice them to come to you.

As with all social marketing tactics, a combination should be designed based on your company’s specific identity, needs and goals.

Don’t

Don’t pitch. Don’t pitch, don’t pitch, don’t pitch, don’t pitch. People using social media are socialising. You wouldn’t leap on a group in the pub and try to market at them, because that would create anger and bad feeling about your brand. So don’t do it online.

You need to add value to their internet time; doing that will encourage them back to your site, back to your brand, back to your products or services. However, simply trying to sell at them will swiftly alienate your clients and you will end up actually damaging your reputation.

Finally

A serious point to remember is that social media marketing is developing and, by its very nature, cannot be easily defined. A successful campaign is a carefully tailored one, there is no simple solution which works for all brands.

Furthermore, having begun this kind of marketing effort, it is essential to remember it is a long-term strategy; it won’t create overnight returns and it will take time to build these successful conversations. Building online relationships can be enormously satisfying, both in terms of creating a strong business image and through driving sales.